A recursive multibody model of a tracked vehicle and its interaction with flexible ground

A high-fidelity model of a tracked vehicle traversing a flexible ground terrain with a varyingprofile is presented here. In this work, we employed a recursive formulation to model the tracksubsystem. This method yields a minimal set of coordinates and hence, computationally more efficientthan conventional approaches. Also, in the vehicle subsystem, the undercarriage frame is assumed to beconnected to the chassis by a revolute joint and a spring-damper unit. This increase in system mobilitymakes the model more realistic. To capture the vehicle-ground interaction, a Winkler-type foundation withsprings-dampers is used. Simulation runs of the integrated tracked vehicle system for vibrations for fourvarying ground profiles are provided.